Feuds and State Formation, 1550–1700: The Backcountry of the Republic of Genoa (Early Modern History: Society and Culture)

This book re-evaluates the role of local agency and provides a new perspective to the political, social and cultural history of state formation, taking a microhistorical approach and through close analysis of archival sources between 1550 to 1700. The backcountry of the Republic of Genoa is a laboratory for gauging the weight and significance of two elements which, according to Charles Tilly and other scholars, have characterized the construction of the modern state: judicial administration and fiscal extraction. The instruments employed in this respect were arbitration and compensation. Interactions between center and periphery occurred within a stratified and discontinuous fabric of fluid jurisdictions and segmented residential topographies, which constituted spaces of mediation. Such spaces were generated by conflicts between kin groups (feuds and factional alignments) and managed both by Genoese officials and by local notables and notaries, who translated a whole set of local practices into judicial procedures. This book offers a rich contextualization of material life, family relationships, economic activities, and power struggles in a corner of the Mediterranean world that was extremely important, but about which very little has been published in English.-- Provided by publisher Preface 8 Acknowledgments 17 Contents 18 List of Figures 20 List of Tables 21 Chapter 1: Introduction 22 Chapter 2: Local Practices and State Authority: Reflections on the Criminal Policy of the Genoese Oligarchy 44 Chapter 3: A Local Universe and Its Horizons 81 1 The Political System of the Communities and the Quartiere of Oltremonte 83 2 The Village of Monleone and the Fopiano Kin Group 95 3 Customs and Political Manipulation 102 Chapter 4: The Land and Residential Patterns 111 1 Chestnut Trees: The ‘Olive Trees’ of the Backcountry 112 2 Subsistence Economies between Ownership and Possession 116 3 Distribution of Land Ownership and Kin Groups 126 4 Villages and Kin Groups: Settlement Patterns 132 Chapter 5: In the Fontanabuona: Forms of Social Exchange and Kin Group Relations 140 1 Elements for the Biography of a Leader 141 2 Dowries and Matrimonial Exchanges 154 Chapter 6: Circuits of Exchange 169 1 Commercial Transit and International Relations 171 2 Olive Oil Production and Commerce as One Form of Integration 173 3 Brokers and Contraband 176 4 Grain Trade: Marketplaces, Brokers, Millers, Bakers, and Retailers 180 5 Kin Groups, Friendship, and Commercial Exchange 187 Chapter 7: The Construction of Social Reality 190 Chapter 8: Events and Political Narratives 197 1 Local Conflicts and High Politics 199 2 The Borgo and the Villages: Resources and Social Fields 213 3 The Civil War and the “Diabolical Ancient Factions” 218 4 Between Center and Periphery: Government by Factions and Pacification 227 Chapter 9: Bandits 231 1 “Companies” and Factions 238 2 Arghenta Consegliero 241 3 Stefano Repetto: An Economy of Banditry? 246 4 Silk Velvet Weavers and the Bandits: The De Martino of Lorsica 251 5 Alessandro Arata: Bandits and Diggers 259 Chapter 10: Politics within Kin Groups (1565–1665) 264 1 Community, Parish, and Kin Groups 271 2 History of a Feud 275 3 The Principali and the Feud: Kin Group Configurations, Both Vertical and Horizontal 286 Appendix: Property Distribution within Certain Fontanabuona Kin Groups According to the 1641 Caratata (from Chap. 4) 297 Index 302 "This book re-evaluates the role of local agency and provides a new perspective to the political, social and cultural history of state formation, taking a microhistorical approach and through close analysis of archival sources between 1550 to 1700. The backcountry of the Republic of Genoa is a laboratory for gauging the weight and significance of two elements which, according to Charles Tilly and other scholars, have characterized the construction of the modern state: judicial administration and fiscal extraction. The instruments employed in this respect were arbitration and compensation. Interactions between center and periphery occurred within a stratified and discontinuous fabric of fluid jurisdictions and segmented residential topographies, which constituted spaces of mediation. Such spaces were generated by conflicts between kin groups (feuds and factional alignments) and managed both by Genoese officials and by local notables and notaries, who translated a whole set of local practices into judicial procedures. This book offers a rich contextualization of material life, family relationships, economic activities, and power struggles in a corner of the Mediterranean world that was extremely important, but about which very little has been published in English."--Back cover Front Matter ....Pages i-xxv Introduction (Osvaldo Raggio)....Pages 1-22 Local Practices and State Authority: Reflections on the Criminal Policy of the Genoese Oligarchy (Osvaldo Raggio)....Pages 23-59 A Local Universe and Its Horizons (Osvaldo Raggio)....Pages 61-90 The Land and Residential Patterns (Osvaldo Raggio)....Pages 91-119 In the Fontanabuona: Forms of Social Exchange and Kin Group Relations (Osvaldo Raggio)....Pages 121-149 Circuits of Exchange (Osvaldo Raggio)....Pages 151-171 The Construction of Social Reality (Osvaldo Raggio)....Pages 173-179 Events and Political Narratives (Osvaldo Raggio)....Pages 181-214 Bandits (Osvaldo Raggio)....Pages 215-247 Politics within Kin Groups (1565–1665) (Osvaldo Raggio)....Pages 249-281 Back Matter ....Pages 283-316